10th Anniversary Staged Reading
Hosted by The Aster
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THE PLAYERS
Réjane…………………….……. Cara Pifko Porel…………………………….. Chuma Gault The Lover…………………….. Patrick Wenk-Wolff The Sage of Paris………… Valerie McCann Mother…………………….……. Cecilia De Rico Blanche………………………… Ilana Turner Stage Directions.............. Francesca Ling |
THE MAKERS
Written by.................. Ilana Turner Directed by….……..... Ilana Turner & Christopher Sivertsen Music by.................... Adrien Reju & Sébastien Miel Lyrics by.................... Adrien Reju Produced by............. Ilana Turner |
NOTE FROM THE PLAYWRIGHT
Réjane's story took me by storm. I didn't even know I wanted to write plays. I first heard about Réjane from a dear family friend, Willie – who felt like my bonus Grandma – when, one day, she told me that the subject of the Toulouse Lautrec print in her living room was her own Grandmother. Réjane. I seized the opportunity to do what I’d always wanted to – climb through the canvas into Lautrec's world. Réjane’s world. With the support and permission of Willie's family – Réjane's descendants – I immersed myself in the family archives and many libraries to unearth this inspiring, groundbreaking story almost lost to history. When I started to write, what came out was my take on the deliciously messy intersection of Réjane’s art & life. The crème de la crème has been collaborating with exceptional artists – including Willie's granddaughter, Adrien Reju, and listening in awe as she wrote the lyrics & co-wrote the music you'll hear tonight. Thank you for coming to see the play that changed everything for me. – Ilana Turner
Réjane's story took me by storm. I didn't even know I wanted to write plays. I first heard about Réjane from a dear family friend, Willie – who felt like my bonus Grandma – when, one day, she told me that the subject of the Toulouse Lautrec print in her living room was her own Grandmother. Réjane. I seized the opportunity to do what I’d always wanted to – climb through the canvas into Lautrec's world. Réjane’s world. With the support and permission of Willie's family – Réjane's descendants – I immersed myself in the family archives and many libraries to unearth this inspiring, groundbreaking story almost lost to history. When I started to write, what came out was my take on the deliciously messy intersection of Réjane’s art & life. The crème de la crème has been collaborating with exceptional artists – including Willie's granddaughter, Adrien Reju, and listening in awe as she wrote the lyrics & co-wrote the music you'll hear tonight. Thank you for coming to see the play that changed everything for me. – Ilana Turner
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BIOS
Cara Pifko (Réjane) Thrilled for this reprise! TV/Film highlights: Tales from the Void, recurring roles on Better Call Saul, Monday Morning, General Hospital, Heartland, NCIS. Ready Player One, Paranormal Activity, Sharkskin, Possession of Michael King. Awards include Stage Raw Leading Female Performance (Réjane), Gemini (This is Wonderland) and Canadian Comedy nomination (Our Hero). Numerous theatre productions in Canada and the US. VO credits include Cyberworld, Angela Anaconda, Star Wars: Clone Wars/Bad Batch, Mass Effect and Final Fantasy. Chuma Gault (Porel) is an actor, producer and award winning director based in Los Angeles. He directed Marlow Wyatt’s ROBBIN, FROM THE HOOD, currently running at the Road Theatre in North Hollywood. He is in development with playwright J. Kwang Lee (ROOFTOP KOREANS; MURRICAN LIE) through EST/LA. Chuma is directing in the spring residency at the L.A. LGBTQ Center with playwright Dave Trudell (WHITE/OUT). In 2022 he directed August Wilson's, GEM OF THE OCEAN at the University of Georgia. Pre-pandemic, Chuma played Caesar in GEM OF THE OCEAN (A Noise Within) which won Best Production (LA Drama Critics 2019). He produced, wrote and directed for the William Inge Theatre Festival; directed on the multi-award winning web-series IN SEARCH OF A-P-I-G. Acting awards: Los Angeles area Outstanding Performance nominations for THE GUN SHOW by EM Lewis; FREEDOM SUMMER by Stephen Sachs (Fountain Theater); TREE by Julie Hébert. Chuma was a series regular on the drama GAME OF SILENCE (NBC); recurring guest star on GIRLFRIENDS (Amazon) and DAYS OF OUR LIVES (NBC); recently guest starred on THE ROOKIE (ABC). Patrick Wenk-Wolff (The Lover) is an actor and part of the military industrial complex (IT for a DoD contractor). When he's not fixing servers for the military, playing with his animals (children and cats), or hanging out with his lovely wife Erin, he occasionally gets to perform (and he's absolutely ecstatic about returning to O Réjane)! Theatre credits include: National tour of Bram Stoker's Dracula (LA Theatre Works), The Curse of Oedipus, The Seagull, and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Antaeus Company), and “Best of Fringe” at Hollywood Fringe Festival for King Phycus. TV credits include: Hunters (Amazon Prime), Killing It (Peacock), NCIS:LA (CBS), and dozens of national commercials. Have a look at his silly webseries Sidekick & Roommate on YouTube: youtube.com/@sidekickroommate Valerie McCann (Sage of Paris) (she/her) is a performing artist, movement director and embodied researcher. She works collaboratively with artists and ensembles across the US, UK and Europe. In Los Angeles, Val was a founding member of ARTEL (American Russian Theatre Ensemble Laboratory). She trained extensively with SITI Company in New York City and collaborated with company members and associates on several new works. Valerie was a member of the international ensemble Dynamika Metamorfozy with NetTheatre at the Grotowski Institute in Wroclaw, PL. She has a decades long collaborative relationship with the artist Than Hussein Clark and is a member of The Directors Theatre Writers Theatre. Valerie studied theatre and dance at the now-defunct College of Santa Fe, and earned an MFA with distinction in Movement Directing and Teaching from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. Her recent solo performances are inspired by her teachers Deborah Hay and Mary Overlie. Cecilia De Rico (Mother) has a B.A. from the National Academy of Dramatic Arts in Stockholm, Sweden. Cecilia worked professionally in Swedish theatre and television for about 20 years before transferring to Los Angeles. In L.A., she’s been involved in plays at the Open Fist Theatre Company, ArtWorks Theatre, and Bootleg Theatre, and some short films. She also started her own voice studio in Hollywood, De Rico Voice, and taught actors in L.A. and Europe between 2005-2012. At the moment ,Cecilia is enjoying singing jazz, and learning more about jazz music down in Long Beach alongside her career in the Healing Arts. Francesca Ling (Stage Directions) is an actress, singer, and director. You've seen her on TV most recently in CSI: Vegas, Hawaii Five-0, and as "Parker" in her major series recurring role in God Friended Me on CBS. She grew up in Chicago where she trained and performed in theater and musical theater before heading to England. She is an alumnus of the British American Drama Academy and performed on stage during her time in London and of The University of Southern California. She has also worked in film, notably opposite Oscar-nominee James Caan in The Good Neighbor for Netflix. In musical theater, credits include West Side Story (Maria), Anything Goes! (Hope Harcourt), My Fair Lady (Eliza Doolittle), and most recently Francesca played Anna in The King and I understudying Broadway veteran Anastasia Barzee. Francesca has taken on directing for the last two years, and her directorial debut film, Lacktate, written by O Réjane playwright Ilana Turner, is currently on the festival circuit. |
Ilana Turner (Playwright/Producer/Blanche) is an L.A. Stage Raw Playwriting award nominee for O Réjane – based on a true story as first told to her by Réjane's granddaughter. Ilana wrote and produced short film Lacktate, an official selection of the 2024 LA Shorts International Film Festival and LA CineFest, and a 2024 LA Short Film Awards Finalist. Short film Right Hand Red is currently a Quarterfinalist for the innaugrual Stowe Story Labs Short Film Production Grant. Play Ollie & D was developed at Inkwell Theater via the Max K. Lerner Fellowship (2018). Play Slur was commissioned by The Vagrancy for their Blossoming Festival (2019). Three features and a series are currently in development, including a play adaptation. As Coordinating Producer for “Designing Hedwig,” Criterion Collection Special Edition of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Ilana got to oogle those costumes up close. Her monologue “Sugar Coat It” was published in LGBTQ Comedic Monologues That Are Actually Funny (Applause Books). She's dubbed lead roles on Netflix's Alpha Males and The Barrier, and voiced podcast Overdressed & Undercover. (she/her)
Christopher Sivertsen (Director) is originally Norwegian. He previously founded and was Artistic Director of multi-award winning, UN Certified Awake Projects in Sweden (2007-2019), and a longstanding principal performer of Polish Song of The Goat Theatre. After being on world tours with these two companies he landed in London permanently 10 years ago. Currently Course Leader for MA/MFA Teaching and Coaching Actors Movement, and Head of Movement for the BA ACT and BA ACTMT at Italia Conti. He also leads Greek Chorus on the MA Classical at Central, works as a coach for Airbus managers, physical performance tutor at RADA MA Lab and Rose Bruford MA APT. He regularly gives independent workshops and masterclasses in Breathing Performers which has been appreciated by performers all over the world. Adrien Reju (Music & Lyrics) is a singer, composer, and guitarist from Beacon, NY, and great-great granddaughter of Rejane (née Gabrielle Reju). Adrien grew up on the stage performing in summer stock theater and at the Metropolitan Opera. Professional performances and tours since then include Rich Robinson’s Magpie Salute, Rachael Yamagata, David Bromberg's Big Band, and the recent premiere performance of the folk opera Centuries. As a solo artist she has crafted three albums of original music and song interpretations to critical acclaim. She also serves as musical director at the Rock Academy in Saugerties, NY where she has directed student shows such as Rebel Girls, Carole King, and Legends of Laurel Canyon. She is excited for this encore reading of O Réjane and for the reunion of original cast members! Sébastien Miel (Music) is a French guitarist and composer, born in 1977. After a few years as a math teacher, he cofounded the French folk rock band La Maison Tellier in 2004, and started to live as a touring musician, which he still does today. The latest release from La Maison Tellier is their seventh album, ATLAS (2022). Sébastien also plays guitar in the French rock band Animal Triste since 2019. Their third album Jericho, featuring Alain Johannes on guitar and voice and Peter Hayes on guitar, is about to be released, in the beginning of 2025.Sébastien also works as a composer for movies, documentaries, plays, and dance companies. Alex Berry (Original Costume & Set Design) is a London-based set and costume designer for theatre, opera and film based. She was recently nominated for a Drama Desk Award for Best Costume Design for Macbeth (an undoing) in NY. For the original production of O Rejáne (Bootleg Theatre, LA), Alex was nominated for the Stage Raw Award for Costume Design (2014). Recent projects include: Treasure Island (Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh), Hansel and Gretel (Royal Academy of Music), Shifters (Duke of York’s Theatre), Trials and Passions of Unfamous Women (Clean Break, Brixton House), Every Brilliant Thing (Theatre by the Lake), A Matter of Choice (Panoptic Films), The Barber of Seville (Nevill Holt Opera), Don Giovanni (Nevill Holt Opera), No Sweat (The Pleasance), The Rape of Lucretia (Royal Conservatoire of Scotland), Spring Awakening (Redgrave Theatre), and Right Place Wrong Tim (Channel 4). As a visual artist, her work has been shown at the Royal College of Art, London and Dulwich Picture Gallery, and most recently has been included in installations at Fortnum and Mason and the Re:Imagining Musicals Exhibition, V&A Museum. She trained at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School having previously studied at the Royal Northern College of Music and Koninklijk Conservatorium, The Netherlands, as a Clarinettist. https://www.alexberry.co.uk/ Brandon Baruch (Original Light Design) is an Ovation Award-winning lighting designer specializing in theater, opera, dance, and immersive performance. His design work has been seen at Center Theatre Group (Mark Taper Forum and Kirk Douglas Theatre), The Wallis, El Portal Theatre, REDCAT, The Ford Amphitheatre, Getty Villa, 5 Star Theatricals, Long Beach Opera, Opera Santa Barbara, Chicago Opera Theater, Apollo Theater Chicago, Aronoff Center Cincinnati, New York City Center, Jerry Orbach Theater, and across Southern California, regionally, internationally, and off-Broadway. www.brandonbaruch.com Jessica Hanna (Original Co-Producer) is a Los Angeles based Director & Producer & Space Maker. She is the founding Producing Artistic Director of Outside In Theatre, a new non-profit theatre company working at the intersection of Theatre and Digital, based in the Highland Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, CA. A graduate of The Theatre School at DePaul University, she is a member of The Kilroys, was Chair of SITI Company’s Board of Directors (2019-2023) and she co-founded & ran Bootleg Theater in Los Angeles, where she produced O RÉJANE in 2014! Her focus as a director has been on new play development. In 2022 she directed Justin Elizabeth Sayre’s LOTTIE PLACHETT TOOK A HATCHET at The Cavern Club and Assembly Roxy Upstairs at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2022, before bringing it back to Los Angeles for a run at The Los Angeles LGBT Center in October 2023. She also directed the world premiere of Sayre’s THREE LITTLE GIRLS DOWN A WELL at The Public Theatre for Under The Radar Festival 2023 in NYC. In LA she has directed at Circle X (the World Premiere of DEATHPLAY, written & performed by Lisa Sanaye Dring), Celebration Theatre (Ovation Award winning PRISCILLA, QUEEN OF THE DESERT, 2018), Bootleg Theater (World Premieres of John Ross Bowie’s FOUR CHORDS AND A GUN, Kerri-Ann McCullough’s THE WILLOWS, and Georgette Kelly’s I CARRY YOUR HEART) , Inkwell Theatre, UCLA, CalState University Long Beach, Occidental College, CalArts and CalPoly Pomona. She has taught Acting for MFA Directors at CalArts Film Dept and Viewpoints at CalState LA’s Theatre Dept. In Santa Fe, NM: HOSTAGE by Michelle Kholos Brooks (Adobe Rose Theatre) and the World Premiere of Kristin Goodman’s #UNDERTHEINFLUENCE (Santa Fe Playhouse). Opera: AS ONE (Orlando Opera). Most recently she directed the World Premiere of Lisa Sanaye Dring’s HUNGRY GHOST at Skylight Theatre and THE WOLVES at CalPoly Pomona. Upcoming: She is developing KRISTINA WONG, #FOODBANKINFLUENCER which will premiere at ASU Gammage in April 2025 and then head out on tour. In 2025 she will also direct the World Premieres of Jami Brandli’s O: A RHAPSODY IN DIVORCE at Outside In Theatre and Roger Q Mason’s HIDE AND HIDE at Skylight Theatre. JessQueen.com for more info. |
With respect, we thank the playwrights of yore
whose work is featured in O Réjane:
Victorien Sardou & Emile Moreau — Madame Sans-Gêne
Henri Becque -- La Parisienne
Henri Meilhac & Ludovic Halevy — La Petite Marquise
Victorien Sardou — Frou Frou
Edmond de Goncourt — Germinie Lacerteux
Aristophanes — Lysistrata
Henrik Ibsen — A Doll’s House
These plays are in the public domain. Translations are original, used with permission of New York Public Library, or are in the public domain.
With permission from the family, excerpts from Réjane's letters and their family archives have also been quoted, as have news articles and reviews.
Music is original, except for:
"Nuvole Bianche" by Ludovico Einaudi (Chester Music/Music Sales)
...and, of course, the can-can – "Galop Infernal" by Jacques Offenbach
whose work is featured in O Réjane:
Victorien Sardou & Emile Moreau — Madame Sans-Gêne
Henri Becque -- La Parisienne
Henri Meilhac & Ludovic Halevy — La Petite Marquise
Victorien Sardou — Frou Frou
Edmond de Goncourt — Germinie Lacerteux
Aristophanes — Lysistrata
Henrik Ibsen — A Doll’s House
These plays are in the public domain. Translations are original, used with permission of New York Public Library, or are in the public domain.
With permission from the family, excerpts from Réjane's letters and their family archives have also been quoted, as have news articles and reviews.
Music is original, except for:
"Nuvole Bianche" by Ludovico Einaudi (Chester Music/Music Sales)
...and, of course, the can-can – "Galop Infernal" by Jacques Offenbach
Original Show Program
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